This report addresses a range of themes related to trade and competitiveness in the Dominican Republic. The analysis examines past trade performance and the many factors contributing thereto, and the policy environment in which these trade outcomes occurred. It also looks forward to imminent...

Bangladesh's growth over the past two decades or more, in terms of developing-country standards, has been notable. Such record of progress is one guide to the country's potential to grow, and to score well in world markets. To this end, i.e., to make the most of its export opportunities on a...

Kazakhstan has made substantial progress in its economic transition, and faces a potentially bright future thanks to its oil wealth. The challenge is to increase the country's competitiveness, and expand the benefits of growth, while avoiding the economic and social risks typically associated...

The objective of this report is to explore firm competitiveness, the investment climate, and growth in Malaysia. This report is structured as follows. The first two chapters provide an assessment of the investment climate. The last two chapters examine how productivity enhancing programs, skills...

Pakistan is widely believed to be underperforming as far as its agricultural export potential is concerned. However, analyses to support this allegation are very few, in part due to the lack of easily accessible data. In this paper provide the first necessary step in the analysis of Pakistan's...

Bulgaria's economy performed relatively well during the crisis and the economy is reviving. In comparison with other Tenth European Union (EU10) countries, for Bulgaria the drop in Gross Domestic Product, or GDP growth was below the median, fiscal performance deteriorated less, and public debt...

Syria made promotion of non-oil exports one of the main objectives of its development strategy to counter the emerging twin balance of payments and fiscal deficits resulting from secular decline of oil production and exports. To realize this objective, the Government has implemented a number of...

During 2007 the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) experienced average growth of 5.7 percent. This was the fifth year in a row in which the region grew at a rate higher than 5 percent, exceeding levels reached in the 1990s and early 2000s. This performance occurred in the context of an...

Russia's exports became further dominated by petroleum and natural gas over the last decade. The sector experienced double-digit annual export growth in the last decade and represented almost 65 percent of Russia's exports value in 2009 a product of higher commodity prices and higher export...

Since its emergence from a turbulent post-communist transition, Albania has achieved remarkable progress in economic and social development. Governance improvements, especially in the effectiveness of public administration, have been instrumental to the country's impressive economic performance...